ONE Championship: All Hands On Deck For Team Lakay As They Brace For Hectic Week

ONE Championship

ONE Championship: All Hands On Deck For Team Lakay As They Brace For Hectic Week

ABS-CBN Sports on Jan 17, 2019 06:49 PM

"All of our achievements are a collective result of our hard work. Each man and woman in the team deserve equal credit for all the success we've had." - Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao

As Mark Sangiao focuses on Joshua “The Passion” Pacio's ONE Strawweight World Title defense this weekend, two of his World Champions are holding down the fort for him back in the Philippines.

Sangiao has delegated the coaching duties to ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang and ONE Bantamweight World Champion Kevin Belingon after the Team Lakay head coach left for Jakarta, Indonesia for Pacio’s bout on early Tuesday morning.

Pacio is slated to defend his ONE Straweight World Title against Yosuke Saruta at ONE: ETERNAL GLORY at the Istora Senayan on 19 January, which kicks off the string of title defenses for Team Lakay.

Six days later, Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio’s turn to defend his ONE Flyweight World Title when he battles Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes in the main event of ONE: HERO’S ASCENT at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines on 25 January.

Given the hectic schedule of the stable, all hands should definitely be on deck for Team Lakay.

"Eduard Folayang and Kevin Belingon will oversee Eustaquio's training while I'm away for Joshua Pacio. I asked Folayang to stay behind for Geje while I work Pacio's corner in Jakarta," Sangiao revealed.

"We have a ready program. The boys will know what to do while I'm away. The thing about our team is we work and help each other all the time. Geje and Honorio are being trained by two world champions right now. Our team being a family is an advantage."

Sangiao assures that no one gets overlooked in the team despite his busy schedule.

He cited that athletes under his watchful eye are given equal priority, and it’s hard to argue against the results of their unified training camp which they have been accustomed to since the gym’s inception in 2003.

"Training camp has gone really well for Joshua Pacio, we're just doing light training in fight week. We were able to get what we wanted for him physically and mentally. We came up with a game plan and his conditioning for his first title defense is superb," said Sangiao.

"Geje started training camp for Moraes in November. Geje's confidence is already there, and his training has been really good so far. We expect a hungry Moraes in the third fight so we're putting in a lot of time to prepare for that."

With expectations getting bigger and bigger with every achievement, Sangiao is just thankful to have a family he can rely on during those days when his plates get too full for his own good. o

"We always teach unity and team work in Team Lakay," stressed Sangiao. "All of our achievements are a collective result of our hard work. Each man and woman in the team deserve equal credit for all the success we've had."